Ondrej Holzman The film jOBS, describing the life of Steve Jobs and the creation of Apple, has completed its first weekend in cinemas, as well as the first reactions and responses. These are mostly contradictory or even negative. Next to that, there was a shootout between Ashton Kutcher, the representative of Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak. The film didn't do too well financially either...
Steve Wozniak, who founded Apple with Jobs in 1976, has not been hiding for months that he is not a fan of the movie jOBS directed by Joshua Michael Stern. And otherwise, Woz didn't speak even after seeing the premiere of the highly-anticipated film last week.
"There were a lot of things wrong with it," stated in a television interview Wozniak, according to which the film inaccurately glorified the character of Steve Jobs without showing his missteps in his youth, and also forgot to sufficiently appreciate his colleagues in the early days of Apple. "I didn't like seeing a lot of people who didn't get the respect they deserved."
In a similar vein, Wozniak also spoke in favor Gizmodo, where he said, that he generally liked Kutcher's acting, but that Kutcher often exaggerated and created his own image of Steve Jobs. "He didn't see that Jobs had major weaknesses in his youth when it came to managing things and creating products," Wozniak said, adding that Kutcher could call him at any time and discuss scenes from the film with him.
However, the relationship between Wozniak and Kutcher is not very friendly, as evidenced by the latest reactions of the 35-year-old actor, who leaned heavily on the criticizing Wozniak. "Woz is being paid by another company to endorse another Steve Jobs movie," said Kutcher in an interview for The Hollywood Reporter. "It's a personal issue for him, but it's also a business for him. We must not forget that.'
Kutcher was alluding to an "official" biopic about Steve Jobs, which he is currently working on with the help of Steve Wozniak's Sony and under the thumb of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. The film is based on Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs, and in May Sorkin revealed that he had hired Woz as a consultant. Wozniak, on the other hand, refused to act as a consultant for the film jOBS, and then approached the filmmakers several times.
However, 63-year-old Wozniak rejects Kutcher's claims. “Ashton made several false statements about me saying that I didn't like his movie because I was being paid by another company. These are examples of Ashton continuing to play his part." pointed out Wozniak, who according to himself, despite his own reservations, still hoped that the jOBS movie would be good in the end. But he has a reason for his criticism.
"I will point out one detail that was left out of the film to prove that I am not criticizing just for the sake of money. When Apple decided not to leave a single share to those who helped Jobs in the early days, I donated a large amount of my own stock to them. Because it was the right thing to do. I felt bad for a lot of people I know well who were misrepresented against Jobs and the company.” explains Wozniak.
“The movie ends more or less at the moment when the great Jobs finally finds his breakthrough product (iPod) and changes the lives of most of us. But this film portrays him as having the same abilities from the very beginning." added Wozniak, who will likely never become Kutcher's favorite.
In addition to Steve Wozniak and many other more negative reviews, the studio Open Road Films, which distributes the jOBS film, also has to absorb the fact that the first weekend in cinemas was not nearly as successful as expected. The numbers come from the American market, where jOBS was shown on 2 screens and earned roughly $381 million (over 6,7 million crowns) during the first weekend. The expected amount was between 130 and 8 million dollars.
That resume was the best anyway … and if the other team can capture this “story” then it could be good …
Aaron Sorkin is not a director but a screenwriter. ;)
Thanks, fixed.
I'm still planning to go to this film :) anyway, I'm looking forward to the one from Sony, I love it so much.
I saw the movie at the cinema over the weekend. I have to say that although I didn't expect anything, the movie jOBS really pleasantly surprised me, as well as the acting performance of Ashton Kutcher and others. I think the movie is worth watching, they didn't spoil anything, on the contrary. You can say pros and cons about every movie, the same about this one, it's everyone's subjective impression, but me and my wife really liked it. But those who know Jobs less, or not at all, are rather portrayed as a nice tough guy (according to his wife).
I saw the film, I would give it 7/10, it's not a failure, but the file is there, a lot of events are skipped, so that a person who doesn't know things could lose the overview.
I saw the movie and liked it, I wouldn't say there are "a lot" of things wrong with it. Some are a bit exaggerated, but rather a lot of things are missing, which is quite a shame...
The movie is ok. I recommend seeing you. When I left the cinema, I thought about whether to buy another ticket and go again. Anyway, anyone who hasn't read books about Apple or doesn't know the history of this company can get lost in the story.
I saw the movie, and I wasn't lost in it just because I read the book Jobs. Anyone who hasn't read it, or at least isn't familiar with the entire story, must have lost themselves in the film. Like my wife, for example, who didn't really know who was who the whole time. I honestly don't even wonder about her. At the same time, it was enough to always put on the subtitles - it's so-and-so, and he does so-and-so. Not to mention completely skipping Pixar and Next. If anything, it should have been a film divided into two parts, with a slightly more logical script.
Honestly, it wasn't bad filmed, but I'd hang the screenwriter by the balls in a draft. For me, Sillicon Valley Pirates are much better.
Agreement. I also realized after watching it that there could have been two parts and thus they could have had more space to portray the characters and incorporate other important milestones. That was a terrible slide, but otherwise fine… see my comment below
Even though I haven't seen the film yet, it can be seen from the reaction of Woz and the discussants that there is a lot missing. It can also be seen that they did not avoid making Jobs the biggest fool. But Woz should keep in mind that this is a movie and not a documentary. A lot of movies are twisted just to make it more interesting or scandalous, although that was probably not the goal here. A lot of movies based on the book are shortened because it just can't fit in there. It is up to the director how to extract the essentials.